Chewable pet toys have been available for many years. Rubber or plastic is typically the preferred material for these pet toys. A great variety of shapes can be created since the toys are molded.
One object in many pet toys is to provide various structural features that will keep the pet occupied over a period of time, and one of these features is the incorporation of a noise making device, often referred to as a squeaker. It is believed that an animal's biting action on the toy, which activates the squeaking sound, stimulates the animal to continue with its play/biting action on the toy. However, one observed behavior of animals is that many animals will continue to aggressively chew on the toy to find and eventually destroy the squeaker. Therefore, one significant problem associated with many pet toys is that the animal will specifically target the noise making device, and may inadvertently swallow and ingest the noise making device and surrounding portions of the toy.
Some efforts have been made to isolate the noise making device in a pet toy to prevent access. Some examples of prior art references that disclose pet toys with features intended to isolate the noise making device include the U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,066,779; 7,736,212; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,736,213 to Willinger. According to one embodiment disclosed in these references, a method of mounting a squeaker into a ball toy is provided in which a separate holder or sleeve retains a squeaker and the sleeve is inserted into and held in an opening formed in the toy. The sleeve has a recessed area that tightly mates with the opening. The sleeve can alternatively be formed with fin shaped extensions at a distal end of the sleeve. The extensions enable the noise making element to be retained within the toy even if the bonding of the sleeve to the opening in the toy fails.
Another example of references disclosing a noise producing device held within a pet toy includes the Applicant's prior published applications 2009/0038560 and 2009/0038559. In various embodiments shown in these publications, a noise making device may be secured within the pet toy by use of an internal holding pocket that it is integrally molded when the pet toy is manufactured. A control element may be used to activate or deactivate the noise making device.
Despite these improvements in securing a noise making device within a pet toy, there is still a further need to optimize placement of a noise making device within a pet toy in which the noise making device is effectively isolated from access by the animal, yet the structure surrounding the noise making device can be used to provide additional structural support to the pet toy.